Author Topic: Rejuvenation, halt aging, or turning someone into an elf  (Read 6768 times)

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Offline Ynglaur

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Re: Rejuvenation, halt aging, or turning someone into an elf
« Reply #20 on: September 16, 2013, 09:14:21 AM »
I like the idea of either existing Spell Lists or Rituals being able to handle this.  I'm a big fan of Glen Cook, but trying to create things that can live buried for hundreds of years is a bit tricky.

Offline PhillipAEllis

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Re: Rejuvenation, halt aging, or turning someone into an elf
« Reply #21 on: September 16, 2013, 05:02:26 PM »
Doesn't this cry for some mechanic involving an Aging Critical Hit table? Might also make those aging spells a bit more colorful. ^^

I'd hate to roll '66' on an 'E' critical on that one.... :)
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Offline rdanhenry

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Re: Rejuvenation, halt aging, or turning someone into an elf
« Reply #22 on: September 16, 2013, 06:34:44 PM »
RM2 had Time Criticals in the Elemental Companion. A 66 on an E crit would age you to death in three rounds.
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Offline PhillipAEllis

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Re: Rejuvenation, halt aging, or turning someone into an elf
« Reply #23 on: September 16, 2013, 08:41:07 PM »
I had forgotten about that one. Thank you for reminding me (I loved that book, almost to bits. :) )
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Offline Ynglaur

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Re: Rejuvenation, halt aging, or turning someone into an elf
« Reply #24 on: September 16, 2013, 09:20:41 PM »
RM2 had Time Criticals in the Elemental Companion. A 66 on an E crit would age you to death in three rounds.
It was either going to be that, or some odd effect like turning you back into an infant.  Only in Rolemaster.

Offline GrumpyOldFart

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Re: Rejuvenation, halt aging, or turning someone into an elf
« Reply #25 on: September 16, 2013, 09:50:49 PM »
I had decided at some point that yes, elves were "immortal" in that they were not subject to the aging process, but that carried its own inbuilt punishment. The older you get, the more sure you become that you know best, because of course the more likely you are to be the one among the group with the most prior experience against which to measure a new situation, and the more likely you are to be the guy who has seen something much like it before. So the more arbitrary and tyrannical you seem to become to others, and the more impatient with "lesser minds" you get. In short, if you live a few thousand years your descendants will consider it their duty to hunt you down and kill you, because by that time you will have become the local Dark Lord(tm). No matter how good your intentions may be, in practice you're a tyrant.

Anyone who plays an elf character is medium likely (if he lives long enough) to find himself faced with the duty of finding and killing a grandparent or great-great aunt or something at some point in his career.

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Offline Thot

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Re: Rejuvenation, halt aging, or turning someone into an elf
« Reply #26 on: September 03, 2020, 10:40:50 AM »
I BE THE NECROMANCER! *raises arms*

Having re-read this thread after... a frightening amount of years, especially as the thread's subject is starting to affect me already... :D, I must say I like the idea of having anti-aging spells be spread out in the gaps of existing spell lists. I am going to explore the lists for that a bit in the following, asking for opinions. I'll use RMFRP for this, as it currently is the rule system I use in my campaign.

Essence has its own lists in the Essence Companion, namely Brewing Lore (closed)  and Sustain Body (open).  It stands to reason that similar things could be achieved with Essence, but the general notion of Essence is that it doesn't do healing and manipulation of life very good. Other possible candidate lists for adding some sort of aging mitigation magic would be Altering Living Things (closed) or Physical Improvements (open) from Spell Law (working the with German translation here, so the actual names may be slightly different).

Channeling is depicted in the books as the one magic source most suited for all kinds of healing, so it stands to reason that most powerful anti-aging magic should be found in this realm. For placing such spells in them, I would propose Ways Of Healing (open), Law of Blood (closed), and possibly the other closed healing lists (Law of Bones, Law of Muscles, etc.) in Channeling whose anti-aging spells would focus on specific ailments from aging related to their subject organs. In the Channeling companion, some version of anti-aging might be doable with the Time Lore list, while Death Mastery and Necromancy could possibly allow some sort of reverse spell somewhere in there, depending on the god.

Mentalism would be more limited - only affecting the caster himself, I guess. Fitting lists would be Self-Healin (open), and some Lay Healer Base lists. Mentalism-Companion also has a list named Medical Law, which should work as a place for high-level, medium-power anti-aging spells.

Out of the dual-realm professions, I would assume the Healer's lists to containing similar anti-aging spells as the closed Channeling lists.

The Arcane list in this thread however, well, I just like it too much to not ALSO have it in a game world. :)




Offline OLF, i.e. Olf Le Fol

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Re: Rejuvenation, halt aging, or turning someone into an elf
« Reply #27 on: September 06, 2020, 03:41:24 AM »
Aside the fact that people who may be killed, thus die, are not immortal, with people with long lives having merely, well, long lives and people not dying from old age being granted eternal life, there are two ways to achieve a similar effect to the latter:
1) The most straightforward is, as aforementioned, "Sustain Body"'s level 19 spell, Resist age that slows ageing, though by not much (1% per level so you'd need to be very high level to be able to live centuries if you're from a species whose lifespan is similar to human beings),
2) The second is actually way more efficient but trickier since it needs a Necromancer base list (that may not be quite wildly available) and a closed Essence spell. Anyway, so the actual trick is to combine "Death Mastery", that ages its target, with "Counterspells", that inverts a spell's effect and voilà! Even at a reachable level (20th), one may get younger by 75 years every time.
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Offline Thot

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Re: Rejuvenation, halt aging, or turning someone into an elf
« Reply #28 on: September 06, 2020, 02:35:19 PM »
[...]
2) The second is actually way more efficient but trickier since it needs a Necromancer base list (that may not be quite wildly available) and a closed Essence spell. Anyway, so the actual trick is to combine "Death Mastery", that ages its target, with "Counterspells", that inverts a spell's effect and voilà! Even at a reachable level (20th), one may get younger by 75 years every time.

Excellent idea!

Or you could just age backwards by 1D10 months per casting if you only learn the first rank in Death Mastery, so that's actually quite doable for a 20th level spellcaster!

Offline Thot

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Re: Rejuvenation, halt aging, or turning someone into an elf
« Reply #29 on: September 07, 2020, 07:30:36 AM »
Funnily enough, though, this existing method to rejuvenate people benefits Essence casters over Channeling and Mentalism casters... which I guess makes sense (as manipulation of magic is Essence's specialty), but I believe we'd need options for those two realms of magic, too...

Offline OLF, i.e. Olf Le Fol

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Re: Rejuvenation, halt aging, or turning someone into an elf
« Reply #30 on: September 08, 2020, 05:16:51 AM »
Necromancers being Channeling-Essence hybrid spell users, it fits them perfectly as people who manipulate life and death…
The world was then consumed by darkness, and mankind was devoured alive and cast into hell, led by a jubilant 紗羽. She rejoiced in being able to continue serving the gods, thus perpetuating her travels across worlds to destroy them. She looked at her doll and, remembering their promises, told her: "You see, my dear, we succeeded! We've become legends! We've become villains! We've become witches!" She then laughed with a joyful, childlike laughter, just as she kept doing for all of eternity.

Offline Thot

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Re: Rejuvenation, halt aging, or turning someone into an elf
« Reply #31 on: September 09, 2020, 07:19:08 AM »
Indeed. Sorcerers, too. But can't all people learn magic from other realms, even though they might have to learn a different magic point skill for that?

Offline markc

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Re: Rejuvenation, halt aging, or turning someone into an elf
« Reply #32 on: September 09, 2020, 01:38:24 PM »
In RMSS/FRP all people can learn all realms it just costs more DP.
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Offline PiXeL01

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Re: Rejuvenation, halt aging, or turning someone into an elf
« Reply #33 on: September 12, 2020, 05:44:30 PM »
RM2/C has optional rules in Spell Law for doing so too. Of course at increased costs and slower rates
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Offline Ginger McMurray

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Re: Rejuvenation, halt aging, or turning someone into an elf
« Reply #34 on: September 13, 2020, 04:26:40 AM »
RM2 Alchemy Companion has Philosopher's Elixir, which covers a lot of the bases. It's weird though because it's not completely about aging and health. There's an alchemist in our current game who is researching it.
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Offline Thot

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Re: Rejuvenation, halt aging, or turning someone into an elf
« Reply #35 on: September 13, 2020, 06:05:51 AM »
For RMFRP, the Philosopher's Elixir is in Essence Companion, a level 50 spell on the Training Package Essence list "Brewing Lore" (p. 79 Essence companion).

Offline Ginger McMurray

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Re: Rejuvenation, halt aging, or turning someone into an elf
« Reply #36 on: September 14, 2020, 08:03:33 AM »
RM2's is a full spell list that slowly takes you through the stages of immortality. It starts, funnily enough, with magical Rogaine. :D
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